Abertzale Left: The legalization of Sortu has to signify the overcoming of the dynamic of bannings put in march in its time by the Spanish state.

Monday, 25 June 2012 09:46

In the first place we wish to say that the legalization of Sortu is the result of a whole decade of struggle against the bannings and the violation of the right to universal suffrage.

First of all the legalization of Sortu has to signify the overcoming of the dynamic of bannings put in march in its time by the Spanish state.

The Law of Political Parties has failed: they haven’t been able to destroy the Abertzale Left, nor much less the pro-independence political project that the Abertzale Left represents.

We have been able to convert the bannings into a political scandal, maintaining political, institutional and social activity above the oppression and apartheid. In the last decade numerous political initiatives have been developed, with a plural character and all of them full of commitment above the bannings and the subsequent police repression.

Therefore, we don’t have any doubt that it has been the mobilization and popular clamor which has brought about the legalization of Sortu.

What is the scenario that opens after the legalization of Sortu?

In the first place we wish to underscore the new situation open in our country by the strategic election and political initiative of the Abertzale Left. Isolated by legality, yes, but through a political initiative that is covered in Zutik Euskal Herria (Stand up Basque Country) the Abertzale Left has promoted the new scenario open in our country.

Zutik Euskal Herria will also be from now on the base of political activity of the Abertzale Left.

In the new political situation open in our country, it is impossible for the Spanish state to maintain the situation of apartheid, in the Basque Country as well as towards the international community.

This country, therefore, has obtained a great achievement, but we cannot forget that we are still in as state of exception. There still exist various realities that are outside of the law, various judicial summaries, numerous people imprisoned and political trials. As of today there are more than 200 people who are charged in summaries that are of a purely political character. The legalization of Sortu in itself doesn’t guarantee political confrontation in equality of conditions if they don’t continue dismantling the legal framework of exceptionality.

However, the political will of the state with respect to the resolution of the conflict hasn’t varied. Even today we can confirm with regret that the Spanish state doesn’t have the will for dialogue and political agreement that would permit the resolution of the conflict in democratic parameters. An example of that is the criminal penitentiary policy that is imposed against Basque political prisoners, life imprisonment through the “Parot Doctrine” or the ratification of the conviction in the so-called Bateragune Case.

Then what is it that has changed? Although the state maintains its attitude of boycott, the accumulation of forces in the Basque Country and the impact of the international community have changed at the root as of late, making it ever more difficult for the state to maintain its position.

And from here on, what?

From here on, all of us who are gathered here, all of the militants of the Abertzale Left – we have the firm will to participate in the constitutive process of Sortu. We wish to participate in the debate process of Sortu and we want to do it with all of those leftist and independentist people who are willing to build an efficient tool for the political and social change of the Basque Country. In the same way we call on all the militancy and the social base of the Abertzale Left to participate in this process and become a “sortzaile” (“creator”).

We have to build an alternative in order to bring true democracy to the Basque Country. The current model is worn out, because it is a model overseen and kidnapped by the economic elite. This country needs a political instrument that brings fresh air to politics, an instrument that gives all the protagonism to Basque society in the taking of decisions. A political instrument to promote a true DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION, an instrument to change the roots of the political and economic reality that we suffer. And we wish to make this change by adding the desires, with the people and for the people.

On a day like this, we wish to reaffirm our commitment to go deeper in the work of all the leftist and sovereigntist political formations in this country. The dynamics of working together with political, trade union and sovereign and leftist social forces will be the most solid guarantee for the political and social emancipation of the Basque Country.